How the Stevens Celebrate Halloween!

I must admit it. I have a love/hate relationship with Halloween. Once I became a Mom, the holiday changed for me. There's just something not quite right about dressing your child up like a demon and sending them out into the darkness with other insane looking creatures in a quest to bring back a bag of diabetes... nope... not quite right. But whenever I start to really hate the holiday, I think back to my childhood Halloween memories. I LOVED Halloween! I remember planning my costume for months. When trick or treating, I remember running as fast as I could to each door... because getting a bag of candy was magical! And my mom made every holiday extra magical too. I remember my girlfriends always commenting that they loved how my mom decorated for each holiday, and I loved it too.

Yep... this is me on a Halloween night long ago. See? I haven't changed a bit!

So, in honor of my childhood, I try to make this month fun for my own kids--the kind of Halloween fun without all the gore! This is a quick look at our family's spooky traditions:

SCHOOL PARTIES!

This is Kyler enjoying Pumpkin Plinko at Rimrock Elementary's Spooktacular.

Carson at his first Preschool Halloween Party.

(His favorite part was eating a doughnut off a string!)

HALLOWEEN PIANO RECITAL!

Me as a retired piano teacher.

My piano students. They say they hate me making them dress up... but I know they love it!

For our Halloween group lesson/recital, we studied Hector Berlioz's spooky symphony, "Symphony Fantastique Movement #5." (I actually think a few kids were nervous in parts!) We performed creepy music, and enjoyed carmel apples! This was the first time I made them... and I think that tradition is going to stick. They were sooooooooo yummy!

WITCHES NIGHT OUT!

This is a tradition in my neighborhood. All the ladies dress up like witches and go out to dinner together. We think we're pretty hysterical.

I just had to post a picture of my neighbor, Linda, who started Witches Night Out. Each year, her costume is different. She cracks me up.

FUN HALLOWEEN DINNER!

This year's Halloween dinner wasn't as good as years past, but the kids loved it anyway.

BOO! Isn't this the SCARIEST picture you've ever seen?

PUMPKIN PARTY!

Since all of our pumpkins were so small this year, we chose to paint them rather than carve them.

Justin thought it would be a great idea to let Ashton paint one too... but Ash preferred sucking on the paint.

And painting his face.

And painting his Budda Belly!

Bootiful art!

COSTUME PARADE!

McKenna as a 5o's girl. Can this girl pose or what?

Ky as a football player.

(After scoring so many touchdowns this season for his flag football team, he fell seriously in love with the sport!)

Carson as Young Anakin Skywalker.

Ashton as a Dinosaur.

( By some miracle, I got a shot of Ash with his hood on... he hated the hood!)

TRICK or TREATING!

The Stevens cousins.

Ashton at our Ward's Trunk or Treat. He. Loved. It. After collecting three treats, he plopped down on the pavement, ripped open a sucker, and enjoyed it for the rest of the night while swaying and rocking to the Halloween music. He was in sticky-sweet heaven!

Carson and cousin Jake enjoying doughnuts and Hot Chocolate. Mmmm... that sounds good right now, doesn't it?

Just look at these faces! Facial hair... bullet holes and stitches... Nope. Not quite right... but so much fun! Happy Halloween!

2010 Family Pictures

We finally did it! Family Pictures! Carson was 6 months old in our last photos (see above)... now he's four!! Justin's sweet sister called and warned us of the impending snowy forecast so we threw some matching shirts together and headed out to do the impossible: capture a photo of all of us smiling and looking in the same direction! Aunt Brooke did a fantastic job cracking us up, wiping runny noses, and providing Ash with bits of candy in between shots! Thank you Aunt Brooke! Here's a few of our favorites:

Holy Crap!

Ever wonder what an O.C.D.-ridden mother's

worst nightmare looks like?

This.

McKenna's Masquerade Birthday!

Look out world... McKenna's now a pre-teen--a double digit! She's 10!

Awhile ago, I was talking with my mom on the phone about how I was a little sad that I only had one girl. My mom's reply put everything in perspective for me. She said, "But McKenna's a WHOPPER of a girl!" And that's the truth! I couldn't ask for a funner or sweeter daughter!

McKenna's very creative and dramatic, so we had to have a birthday party that fit the bill. After agonizing for months over the perfect theme, we chose to have a Masquerade Party. It turned out so fun! Just look at these mysterious drama queens!
This age group loves crafts-so we crafted it up! After watching the masquerade scene from "Phantom of the Opera" for inspiration, the girls painted their own masks and made jewelry.
But the biggest hit of the party was the chocolate fountain! (Thanks Aunt Brooke!) Forget cake! It was all I could do to contain them while singing Happy Birthday. They couldn't wait to dive in! Chocolate has this maddening force on women--no matter what age they are!
And boy, could those petite little gals eat!! They cleaned me out. I think they would have licked the fountain clean if I would have let them. And, thankfully, it wasn't as messy as I had imagined. We only ruined two shirts.
Of course, my own personal garbage disposal (Ashton) loved the chocolate fountain as well!

It was a terrific party for a terrific girl! We love you Kenna!

Puppy Love

If you read this blog, you know that Ashton is an adorable mess maker, but one thing that few people know about him is that he has an obsession. His tongue. It started the day he was born. The second he came out of the womb, his tongue was alive. My mom (always looking for deformities and handicaps) noticed it immediately! Almost a year and a half later, that tongue is still always buzzing and wiggling about. I actually think that it may be too big for his mouth. In 99% of our photos of him, his tongue is hanging out! Well, something amazing happened last week. Ashton found a soul mate. Someone who understands him. Someone who loves their tongue as much as Ash loves his.

Shelby. (Grandma Luke's Dog!)

That's right. And they celebrated their love of tongues in a series of slobbery kisses. Ashton was in saliva heaven. He would have gone on slapping tongues all day if I would have let him, but knowing that his Daddy was going to practically pass out at the sight of doggy germs, Ash only stole a few kisses before I swept him away... But Ash and Shelby now have something that can never be taken away. A bond. A force uniting human and canine. A shared love of tongues.